Wiedersehen

Farewell to the mountains
Goodbye to the trees
So long to the ski slopes
Join the absentees

Salzburg is a cradle
rocking you no more
Memory the only thing
that’s still worth living for

Wiedersehen
Auf Wiedersehen
Wie wir gehen
Auf Wiedersehen

Books are in their boxes
Manuscripts are packed
A dealer expressed interest
so paintings were dispatched

The ladies from the village
say tearful goodbyes
The gardener locks the greenhouse
Suspicion in his eyes

Wiedersehen
Auf Wiedersehen
Wie wir gehen
Auf Wiedersehen

The world before the war
exquisite in your dreams
still bore the angry children
who only saw extremes

You never saw it coming
What was it they lacked?
The civilised rejected
Modernity attacked

Wiedersehen
Auf Wiedersehen
Wie wir gehen
Auf Wiedersehen

Your old friend Freud has helped you
illuminate the hate
find motive in desire
but now it’s much too late

The train is on the platform
The knife is in your back
Your suitcases are sitting
on the luggage rack

Wiedersehen
Auf Wiedersehen
Wie wir gehen
Auf Wiedersehen